


Family

by greyone01



Series: 25 Days of Damerey 2018 [6]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Committed Relationship, DameRey, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, JediPilot, Kissing, Life day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 00:19:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16882038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyone01/pseuds/greyone01





	Family

When Rey told her friends Finn and Rose about her decision, she hadn’t expected such strong reactions from them.

“YOU WHAT?!” Rose shrieked, at the same time as Finn groaned and covered his face with his hands.

Rey raised her hands in gesture of surrender and took a step back. “I suppose you’re not happy with my decision?”

“Not happy?!” Rose repeated incredulously, still looking very much aghast. Finn kept his face covered, but began shaking his head, muttering, “Rey, Rey, Rey, why would you do that?”

“I don’t understand,” Rey frowned, very much baffled with her friends’ reactions. “He said he hasn’t spent a Life Day with his father in five years and wanted to this year. I thought they’d want to spend some time alone together.” She began to chew her lower lip nervously. “I did something wrong, didn’t I?”

“Oh Rey,” Rose sighed, a bit calmer now. She nudged at Finn. “Help me out here, will you?”

Finn finally took his hands off his face. Seeing Rey looking quite anxious now, he asked gently, “Have you ever spoken to Chewie about Life Day?”

“Chewie? Why would I talk to Chewie about Life Day?”

“All right, let’s start with the basics,” Rose said. “Life Day is probably the single most important holiday in the galaxy, and it’s a Wookie tradition. It’s a time for thanksgiving with family.”

“Everyone tries to get together with family on Life Day,” Finn explained. “Poe had always tried to spend Life Day with his dad until the past couple of years. The first he missed was that Life Day five years ago – he was held captive by the First Order at that time. The year after that, the Resistance was still trying to recover from the losses, and he felt too guilty to go. Then the next one, Leia was quite unwell after she helped you in your face-off with Kylo Ren. The Resistance needed a leader, and he stepped up in Leia’s absence. That made him a bigger target for the First Order, so by the next Life Day, he had such a big bounty on his head it simply wasn’t safe to go home and spend it with his father. “

“We spent that one together,” Rey could not forget how Poe had given her his mother’s ring then, after almost two years of being together.

“And then you were so badly injured last year, he wouldn’t leave your bedside,” Rose said.

“So why was it so wrong that I declined his invitation to go with him to spend Life Day with his father?” Rey asked, still genuinely confused. “Of course I wanted to go, but I thought I would be intruding. I thought I was doing the unselfish thing giving him this time to spend alone with his father.”

Finn and Rose exchanged glances. “He wanted you to meet his dad,” Finn said, revealing that he had been talking to Poe. “Because he wants you to be a permanent part of his family.”

Comprehension became evident on Rey’s face, which was almost immediately followed by dismay. “And I said no to that!” It was all she ever wanted, a family, and she was holding onto the hope that someday, she just might have that Poe. Now it looked like she may have missed her chance on that.

She looked at her friends in panic. “No wonder he seemed so devastated! I thought he was asking me to go with him out of pity! Why couldn’t he have just said all of this to me, instead of just asking me to go with him?”

Finn groaned again, and this time, Rose did, too. “When it comes to things like this, Poe Dameron is not quite as smooth as he is with flying,” Rose remarked.

Rey was suddenly in a hurry to get out of the room. “I need to find him!” she called as she ran away from her friends. “If you guys see him, tell him I’m looking for him!”

“Good luck!” Finn called after her, but Rey was already beyond earshot. Turning to Rose, he sighed. “Force help them. Sometimes it astounds me how they’ve managed to stay together all this time.”

“Well, that’s what happens when all forces in the galaxy conspire to bring them back to each other and keep them together.”

*****

Rey found Poe sitting on the Falcon’s lowered ramp. He looked like he was lost in thought, and she thought he wasn’t seeing her as she approached him.

“Hey,” she called softly when she was practically standing in front of him. He blinked a couple of times, then smiled when he saw her. Rey’s heart leaped as usual with his smile. “Can I sit with you?”

“It’s your ship,” Poe replied, extending a hand to help her. She smiled and grasped his hand, sitting close enough for their sides to be touching. She didn’t let go of his hand.

“I’m sorry,” she half-whispered, her gaze drifting down to their joined hands. “Finn and Rose explained everything to me. I’m really sorry.”

To her surprise, Poe leaned close and kissed her temple. “It’s okay. I understand if you’re not ready.”

“But I am,” Rey turned her head to meet his eyes. “I have been for a long time, but stuff kept happening. Then finally I get this one chance, and I didn’t even recognize it for what it was.”

Poe inhaled sharply. “What are you saying?”

She moved to raise his hand over her head, so that his arm was slung on her shoulders. “It’s more than just meeting your father and spending Life Day with you both, right?”

Poe nodded. When he didn’t say anything, Rey continued, “I have been ready since you gave me your mother’s ring. I wouldn’t have accepted it if I wasn’t.”

“I promised Dad that I would give that ring to someone only for the same reason that he gave it to Mom,” he told her. “To commit myself the way he did to Mom. I thought it was time for him to meet the person who got it.”

“I know.” She let go of his hand to look at the ring on her finger. “I wear it for the same reason. To bind myself to the person who gave it to me.” She looked at him, her eyes backing her words. “I don’t ever wish to stop wearing it.”

With his free hand, he took her hand and kissed it. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

She leaned into him and sighed. “I thought you asked me to come because you were feeling sorry for me. I thought you felt sorry I didn’t have any family to spend Life Day with.”

“Whatever gave you that idea?” Poe pulled back a little to look at her in surprise. “It didn’t ever occur to me you’d think that.”

“I guess it’s just something I’ve learned to live with,” Rey shrugged. “Whenever people find out I don’t have any family, they tend to feel sorry for me.”

“Oh Rey,” Poe hugged her closer. “That’s exactly the opposite of why I wanted you to come. I wanted you to meet my dad because you’re part of the family, my family, if you want to. And we’ll finally get to do what family does on Life Day – be together.”

“I’d like that,” Rey said, her voice breaking at the impact of his words. “That’s all I ever wanted, really. Family. To be in one.” She took a deep breath. “If your offer still stands, I’d like to go with you.”

“The offer’s never been off the table,” Poe smiled. He let go of her hand to gently turn her head towards him. Rey’s arms went around him as he kissed her, the gentle movement of his lips matched by her own. The kiss was long and slow, both taking their sweet time to relish the connection.

“So, since I’m part of your family now,” Rey began timidly. “Does that mean I can use the family name, too?”

Poe’s whooping “Yes!” was the last sensible word Rey heard from him as he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. His reaction made her break into a wide smile, which swiftly left her face as she became the recipient of his most passionate kiss yet. Her own joy of finally belonging to a family AND having his family name to use as her own spurred her to return his kiss with just as much ardor. Life Day officially may be weeks away, but to Rey, it was Life Day right now, finally finding in Poe Dameron what she had been searching for all her life.


End file.
